Kanal ob Soči is a town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 and municipality

Municipalities of Slovenia

Slovenia is divided into 211 municipalities , of which 11 have urban status.Slovene is an official language of all the municipalities. Hungarian is a second official language of 3 municipalities in Prekmurje: Dobrovnik , Hodoš and Lendava...

 in Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

, established in 1995 by secession

Secession

Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...

 from Nova Gorica

Nova Gorica

Nova Gorica ; 21,082 ; 31,000 ) is a town and a municipality in western Slovenia, on the border with Italy...

.

The town itself is an important crossing point over the River

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 Soča. The first bridge was built by the Romans

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

. The current bridge was built after World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. The center of the town was fortified in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

. There are four towers left called bastion

Bastion

A bastion, or a bulwark, is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall , facilitating active defence against assaulting troops...

s. There is also a beautiful fountain called Neptunes fountain, built in 1815, in the town center next to the main church.

The Parish Church

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

 in the town was built in 1430 on the site of an earlier church. It was extended in the late 18th century and is dedicated to The Assumption of Mary

Assumption of Mary

According to the belief of Christians of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and parts of the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglicanism, the Assumption of Mary was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life...

 and the belongs to the Diocese of Koper. A second, smaller church in the town, is dedicated to Saint Anne

Saint Anne

Saint Hanna of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. English Anne is derived from Greek rendering of her Hebrew name Hannah...

 and is first mentioned in documents dating to 1542.

Famous natives and residents

• Ivo Hvalica, politician (SDS
  Slovenian Democratic Party
  The Slovenian Democratic Party , known until 2003 as the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia is a Slovenian centre-right liberal conservative and Christian democratic party...
  
  )
• Vojeslav Mole, poet and art historian
• Author Josip Ribičič
  Josip Ribičič
  Josip Ribičič was a Slovene writer, mostly famous as an author of popular children literature.- Life :He was born as Josip Ribičić in the town of Baška on the island Krk...
  
   mother Marija Ribičić (born Križanič or Križnic)
• Ignazio Francesco Scodnik, Garibaldine
  Giuseppe Garibaldi
  Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
  
   general
• Valentin Stanič, mountaineer, author and philanthropist

External links

• Kanal ob Soči on Geopedia

See also

• Slovene Littoral
• Goriška
  Goriška
  Goriška is a traditional region in western Slovenia on the border with Italy. The name means "the Gorizia region" because it is named after Gorizia, Italy. It is part of the wider traditional region of the Slovenian Littoral . Its principal urban center is Nova Gorica...
  
  
• County of Gorizia and Gradisca
• Battles of the Isonzo
  Battles of the Isonzo
  The Battles of the Isonzo were a series of 12 battles between the Austro-Hungarian and Italian armies in World War I. They were fought along the Soča River on the eastern sector of the Italian Front between June 1915 and November 1917...